Love your enemy - Training for Warriors PDX

Coach Josh from Training for Warriors Portland here. This is love week... and I’ve got your 4th message of love!

This message is one of my favorites. It’s probably the most powerful if you apply it on a daily basis.

LOVE YOUR ENEMY.

It sounds counterintuitive, but this idea comes from 2 different ideas. The first is: the obstacle is the way of resilience which states that the resistance you face in your personal life actually is the thing/catalyst that grows you into the person you want to become.

That is, essentially, bringing out the warrior within. Rising THROUGH struggle, into a new identity or new place.

Loving your enemy/ people that bring you that conflict or the people that expose you to these challenges for yourself- thats just one method of growth. It’s a great method of growth.

Now, I’m not saying if someone is abusing you or causing you pain, that you need to stay around them. It's like saying: “I need to grow and this is helpful for me”.

NO. That’s not what I’m saying at all!

Those people you should definitely avoid.

People who challenge you, people with whom you have a healthy conflict — those relationships bring you an opportunity for you to learn about yourself and to grow through that.

When it comes to more adversarial relationships (physically, mentally, politically)... it’s okay to stay away from those people BUT it’s also helpful to love them as well. Because when you hate somebody, that puts a lot of negative energy into yourself. That makes your heart very heavy. But if you love your enemy, then you’re liberated from their influence.

If you can love with detachment and appreciate who they are and not have any expectation from them, then you’re free yourself. You’re not stuck in a conflict and you’re not stuck with your own hate.

SO. Love your enemy by:

growing with resistance

AND

2. loving with detachment

You’re going to find yourself with so many more opportunities for growth. You’ll find it very easy to bring out the warrior within, which is what I’m trying to do with all these messages.